03
The House of Silence
“……Excuse me?”
Ji-han finally opened his mouth toward the person sitting across from him who had been silent for a long time. Because of that, Yeon-hee, who had still been remembering the voice from beyond the wall, barely came back to her senses.
“Yes? Ah, yes. What did you say?”
“I asked if this place had ever been a research institute.”
How does he know that?
Her eyes, which had been lowered the entire time, suddenly opened wide.
After her parents passed away, <The Way Research Institute> had been abandoned for twenty years. Yeon-hee had remodeled the inherited research institute building into the current Damcheongwon and her living space.
So she could not understand why the top actor Yoon Ji-han was asking about the research institute.
Without realizing it, Yeon-hee clenched her fist tightly and asked.
“Is that information really that important to you, customer?”
“It’s not that it’s important…… I just want to know something. I’m not a strange person. My name is Yoon Ji-han, and I’m twenty-nine years old……”
“I know! Who you are.”
When Ji-han seemed ready to list all of his personal information, Yeon-hee was startled and cut him off.
At Damcheongwon, not knowing the customer’s information was a rule.
The more you knew, the more dangerous it became.
However, there was one thing she desperately wanted to hear from him.
“Then let’s do this. I’ll tell you the information you want to know.”
“Ah, thank you. The payment……”
“No, payment is unnecessary!”
Ji-han, who had been taking out his wallet from the inside pocket of his suit jacket, stopped.
“Instead of payment, give me the information I want.”
Even though Ji-han could not see her, Yeon-hee smiled politely like she was responding to a customer.
“……What is that?”
Not long ago, she had accidentally watched his interview on TV.
She had been so shocked when he said he hated love.
After that, his voice continued to linger in her ears.
She wanted to know, but she had no way to find out.
She never expected she would meet him like this.
“The reason you hate love.”
Until now, Yeon-hee had longed for love.
She had longed for it again and again.
If only I could love someone too.
She wanted to worry about love all night, to miss someone so desperately that her heart would sink every day.
She wanted to suffer because of passionate love.
But no matter how much someone wishes for something, there are wishes that can never come true.
Just like there were people who could never feel love unless a cure for the Love Virus was developed.
Yeon-hee rubbed her left wrist, where there was a horseshoe-shaped scar.
A scar no bigger than a finger joint felt as if it had decided her entire fate.
Why did Ji-han hate the love that Yeon-hee desperately wanted?
“I want to know. The reason you hate love.”
Yeon-hee clearly stated what she wanted and waited for Ji-han’s answer.
Between the glass wall, a short silence flowed.
He’s a top actor, so he’ll refuse, of course.
He might get angry and leave Damcheongwon.
Since he wants information, maybe he’ll reluctantly tell her?
At that moment, Ji-han broke the silence and spoke.
“……That’s interesting.”
“Yes?”
“It’s interesting that what you want isn’t money, but that.”
Unexpectedly, Ji-han’s voice contained no annoyance or anger.
Rather, there was even a faint trace of a smile.
“This will be the first and last time I tell someone the real reason why I hate love. So you must make sure my secret stays buried. And……”
“And……?”
“If you’re asking this, it means you know something about the research institute.”
Yeon-hee unconsciously nodded.
Then she realized the glass wall was blocking her and answered quietly.
“Okay. After I hear everything, I’ll tell you what I know.”
Ji-han raised his wrist, checked his watch, and slowly opened his mouth.
Someone once said this.
The oldest memory a person can recall is shocking, painful, and filled with despair.
That is why it remains in their memory for such a long time.
Ji-han’s oldest memory was also stained with pain and despair.
At that time, Ji-han was only about five years old.
It was the age when children went to kindergarten and played with friends.
But young Ji-han always had to stay inside the house.
“Tsk, tsk. I wonder if his parents even exist or not. They just abandoned that poor child.”
The woman who took care of him and cleaned the house often clicked her tongue whenever she saw Ji-han.
But even she could not become someone Ji-han could rely on.
Because she had rules she had to follow.
First.
Clean every corner of the house, but do not throw away anything except household trash. Every item must be returned to its original place.
Second.
Never enter the master bedroom or the study.
Third.
Take care of the homeowner’s young son, but also watch him so that the child follows the first two conditions.
A young woman who introduced herself as the homeowner’s younger sister and the child’s aunt promised that if she followed only those three rules, she would receive a large payment every month.
After that day, she never showed herself again, but she deposited the salary every month without fail.
There was only one strange thing……
“By the way, where did your father go?”
……
The woman had never seen the homeowner even once.
He was always locked inside his bedroom or study and never came out while she was cleaning.
Anyway, because the payment was quite generous, the woman strictly followed the three conditions.
Protecting her sweet job was more important than the child’s loneliness.
So instead of giving Ji-han attention, she only gave him warnings.
Don’t run.
Be quiet.
Don’t make loud noises.
Don’t go in there.
If you aren’t careful, I’ll lose my job……
All those restrictions placed on a curious five-year-old child were cruel.
Staying alone in a silent house all the time, eating the meals the woman prepared alone, were both difficult.
The day of the incident, the sky was dark as if rain would pour down at any moment.
Perhaps because of the heavy clouds covering the sky, the already quiet house felt even more sunken.
The woman was cleaning every corner of the house as usual, while Ji-han was playing alone with his toys in his room.
“Hey, I’m going to clean the bathroom, so stay quietly in your room and play!”
“Yes—”
Even though he answered like a good child, the only response was silence.
Ji-han stared at the door for a while, then went out into the living room.
A house that was unbelievably neat and organized.
But there was no warmth of a person anywhere.
Ji-han quietly passed the bathroom and headed toward his father’s bedroom.
In his small hand, he tightly held the toy he had been playing with earlier.
Creak—
When he carefully opened the door, an empty bedroom appeared before him.
“Dad……?”
He called out in a tiny voice, but there was no way anyone would answer in the empty bedroom.
Looking around, the first things he noticed were the large pieces of furniture.
The bed, wardrobe, drawers……
Then he noticed the many picture frames.
Several frames containing pictures of a young woman stood beside the bed, and dozens more were hanging on the wall.
Who is she?
Ji-han reached out toward the closest frame on the wall.
For an adult, it was not a particularly high place.
But for a five-year-old child, it was impossible to reach.
His fingertips barely touched the edge of the frame.
With a rattling sound, the hook came loose.
Crash—!
Before his small hand could grab it, the frame fell straight to the floor.
The glass shattered into pieces, leaving a crack across the woman’s face in the picture.
“Oh my goodness! What happened here?!”
The first person to run over was the woman holding a bathroom cleaning brush.
She was startled once by the sound of breaking glass and twice by the open bedroom door.
She quickly grabbed Ji-han’s small hand.
“Why did you come in here?! Oh no, if your father finds out, there will be trouble……!”
At that moment, a large shadow approached behind her.
“Dad!”
The woman was startled by the child’s voice and turned around.
Then she deeply bowed to the employer she had not seen for several months and apologized again and again.
“I’m sorry! I was cleaning the bathroom, and the child accidentally……”
But his father ignored her words and walked straight into the room.
Even though he stepped on the broken glass, he did not care.
He picked up the photograph carefully with both hands.
“Wait, your foot is bleeding……!”
The woman pointed at his foot in panic, but he seemed unable to hear her.
Holding the picture, he turned around.
He did not even look at Ji-han once.
He simply closed the bedroom door.
Bang—!
“That day, the door between my father and me was basically closed forever.”
Ji-han’s voice as he said that was filled with loneliness and sadness.
“Only after I grew older did I learn who the woman in the picture was—the woman my father valued more than his own son.”
“Who was she?”
Ji-han stopped speaking for a moment and pressed his thumbnail hard.
It was a word he had not spoken for a long time.
So saying it was a little frightening.
“……My mother.”
“Your mother?”
“She had always been weak. Everyone opposed her pregnancy, but she loved the baby so much that she insisted on giving birth. Even when her own life was in danger, she asked them to protect the baby instead of her. And before she could even hold that baby……”
He could not say anything more.
Ji-han’s story was stained with pain, and even telling it seemed difficult for him.
The large hand visible through the window trembled slightly.
“My mother loved the baby more than anyone else. That’s why she gave up her own life to save him. That child was me.”
“The child who killed his mother…… the child who was born anyway.”
Ji-han put his hand into his pants pocket and crossed his legs, pretending to be calm.
“Today, that is the end of my secret story.”
“Then, Yoon Ji-han, no, customer, the reason you hate love is……”
“A mother who threw away her own life because she loved her child. A father who abandoned his child because he loved his wife too much.”
Ji-han gave a small laugh without realizing it.
It felt strange to tell such a painful past to a stranger.
He had never told anyone until now.
This was all because of this.
Ji-han took out a business card with a golden key drawn on it from his jacket pocket.
On the stiff paper that looked freshly printed, he traced the neatly engraved purple letters with his finger.
The Way Research Institute.
He had come all the way here because of this.
But unexpectedly, he had also revealed his painful past.
Now, he really needed to know.
“I told you why I hate love, so you should give me the information as well.”
